Tag: compression

Mix and Master Yourself – Quick Mix Guide (Part 4)

The next step that you might want to take if you were to do a rough mix of your recording session is to add compression.

Compression is used for leveling out the dynamics of a recording. Meaning, that the dynamic range is compromised and squashed.

Take this for an example: say you have a recording where the instrumentalist plays very loud at some sections, normal throughout most, and very quiet at other places. To make this more even, you use a compressor to bring down the loudest parts to a normal level. Then, with a gain knob, you can bring up the entire modified recording to a louder level to make the quitter sections more audible.

Be mindful of the ratio of how much you compress the recording.

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Mix and Master Yourself – Quick Mix Guide (Part 3)

The next step you should take into mixing your music is adding a gate. This is more ideal for situation where you are working with recorded material in stead of sample based/electronically programmed music… but, it is still valuable to know.

A gate works like a “backwards compressor” where if the sound hits there threshold the gate is pushed open. However, if the sound going through the gate is below the threshold, it does not open – and therefore, doesn’t sound.

So, the purpose of the gate is to cut out the bleed/leakage from other instruments that are less in amplitude, but still audible.

You will want to set the attack, hold, and release to breathe with the song. In addition, the threshold should just be enough to allow the main instruments with a few ghost notes come through.

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